


How to Tame a Horse

by Beastrage



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen, Spoilers for Thousand Years Blood War, letter writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 13:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8209477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beastrage/pseuds/Beastrage
Summary: Ichigo's inner hollow writes a letter. Well, kind of.





	

Before we start, King, I'm gonna tell you something.

You're an idiot.

You don't get it, what we are. You don't understand what it means to be King. You don't know what it means for me to be your Horse, your Sword.

Because we're not like the other Shinigami and their zanpakuto. They work together from the start, finding their power together. It takes a while, decades, centuries, and some never get it, but those that do? Those are the Captains, the living gods.

Us? We fought each other until we bled all over the city windows at our feet. We fought until you broke me under you, made me the horse and claimed the throne. 

But the thing about having a horse is this: you have to trust your horse to ride it, King. 

You can't go on foot against horse-riders, no matter how stubborn you are. (And believe me, King, you're stubborn). You have to ride your horse to win this race. But you don't. You insist on limiting yourself, on riding an old nag, when you could be riding the wind. 

What kind of idiot does that? You, apparently. 

But in the end, though I am your Blade, we ain't really Shinigami. Because Shinigami have limits, rules they have to follow. The only law we follow is our own. You are the King, and the King makes the law. 

We are so beyond their Captains, it isn't even funny. We can take mountains down with a single swipe, destroy the moon if we so desired. 

But that's only if you trust your horse, King. Alone, you're some punk whose fists can never be enough to protect everyone you care about. Alone, I'm a hollow trapped in a mirror, trying to break free. 

Together, we are more than reapers. More than hollows and humans.

And that's the other thing you don't get, King. The whole hollow part. What does it say about you, that your zanpakuto is a hollow, the sworn enemy of all Shinigami? They'll hunt you, if it comes down to it, if their Captains said to. They'll hunt us because we don't fit into their nice little peg holes.

Hollows want  _everything._ Most of all, they want to never be alone again. They guard their territories, hunt their prey, and the Shinigami don't even try finding out  _why._ They don't care, those reapers. They'll hunt every hollow they can, even if the hollow is no longer lonely, no longer wishes to feed. 

That's part of the reason you're so scared of me, you know. Some part of you realizes what my existence means for you, what it would mean to be more hollow than Shinigami. That you don't fit in, even among the freaks. (And, well, the whole possibly-devouring-your-loved-ones bit). 

We are the biggest freak of all, King. A natural blend of Quincy, Hollow, and Shinigami, packed into one little human soul. 

But it's the human part that matters the most. The human part that screams, "Protect my loved ones!" The part that unites us.

You are mine, King, mine to protect. I won't fail you, but you have to trust me, King. Trust me like you trust that stupid Quincy. 

Trust me and we will never lose again.

I promise.


End file.
